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RNA interference and the vaccine effect of a subolesin homolog from the tick Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides

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Abstract

Subolesin is a well-characterized protective antigen in many ticks and, thus, it is potentially useful in the development of a broad-spectrum vaccine or an autocidal gene silencing strategy to control tick infestations. A subolesin homolog was cloned from the tick Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, which is widespread in China, by rapid amplification of complementary DNA (cDNA) ends. Its full-length cDNA was 1386 base pairs (bp), containing a 483 bp open reading frame with a predicted molecular mass of 18.7 kilodaltons and an isoelectric point of 9.26. The subolesin protein had a typical nuclear localization signal in its amino-terminus. The full-length cDNA of R. haemaphysaloides showed 52 and 80 % identities to those from Ixodes scapularis and R. microplus, respectively, whereas amino acid sequence alignments showed 80 and 97 % identities, respectively. Native subolesin was recognized in the unfed tick midgut by an antibody against recombinant subolesin. Transcriptional analysis showed that subolesin was expressed in the tick’s four developmental stages and in all of the tissues examined, except for the synganglion. The pathogen Babesia microti induced the subolesin transcript by fourfold. Subolesin gene silencing by RNA interference significantly decreased the larval engorgement rate, the attachment rate and body weight of engorged nymphs, and the body weight and attachment and engorgement rates of adults, as well as the egg weight per female tick. Vaccinating mice and rabbits with recombinant subolesin induced a significant protective effect, resulting in a reduction of blood feeding and oviposition. These results encourage further studies of using subolesin to control tick infestations in China.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant (Grant No. 31572512)from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and The Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of China.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, 200241, China

      Pengyun Lu, Yongzhi Zhou, Yingfang Yu, Jie Cao, Houshuang Zhang, Haiyan Gong & Jinlin Zhou

    2. College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agriculture University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

      Pengyun Lu & Guoqing Li

    3. Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou, 225009, China

      Jinlin Zhou

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    1. Pengyun Lu
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    2. Yongzhi Zhou
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    Correspondence to Jinlin Zhou.

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    Pengyun Lu and Yongzhi Zhou have contributed equally to this work.

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    Lu, P., Zhou, Y., Yu, Y. et al. RNA interference and the vaccine effect of a subolesin homolog from the tick Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides . Exp Appl Acarol 68, 113–126 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-015-9987-z

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